"Conquering worlds and crushing civilizations has never been so tedious."

Star Wars: Battlefront review for the Xbox gaming console. When I viewed the commercials for this game I believed I'd be playing a Star Wars version of Dynasty/Samurai Warriors. I can understand my guess being wrong, but it was so far from the truth that it frightened me. And it wasn't the game, but how it was executed. Read on, if you would.

~~ Graphics & Sound 6/10 ~~

I'm doing graphics first because I feel a game based around constant skirmishes needs to be flashy to be entertaining. There's no real story behind these battles, save for someone wanting to conquer any given planet. If you wish to read more into that, please watch the Star Wars movies and you'll have the ability to play this game in your mind.

While not superior to any melee game, they're about on-par with the PS2 version of Samurai Warriors. There's some pixelation, but nothing which would cause someone to die. The terrain doesn't look all that great, in fact it looks pretty barren no matter where you go. Everything's laid out and plain, leaving you little more to do than to watch your blaster shots go off. Remarkably, the classic blaster shot does look pretty good. Shame they didn't model the rest of the game around that (...or maybe they did).

The background music and active sounds are decently appropriate, but certainly nothing you'll be sending home about. Basically all you hear is blaster fire, comments from your soldiers, and explosions. There's little more than that in terms of "noise."

~~ Gameplay 1/10 ~~

The *huge* failing of this game is in how repetitive it is. This is where my expectations came into play, and were put down like a rabid mutt. You are a COMMON soldier which means you end up a corpse before you really know someone's firing at you. There are no "hero" units, except a Jedi unit which is EXTREMELY unbalanced.

The "team resources" are your reinforcements, and if they hit zero, it's basically game over. Sometimes you can recover from the brink against superior forces, but it's rare with how easily your previous body ends up going home in a bag. And with how stupid your teammates are for that matter. Grenades do NOT miraculously phase through walls.

Though it has some decent entertainment value for a few hours, it quickly becomes repetitive since you do nothing except repeat your actions and hope battle swings your way. However, there is a small redeeming value in the fact that if you like Star Wars you have an option available to you. Play through the historical campaign and look at some pictures unlocked by your triumphs. Otherwise it's just the Star Wars title which keeps this game held high. I'm certain this could've been a success if they made it more Dynasty/Samurai Warriors-like... but not just because you could be a one-man army.

~~ Overall Opinion 2/10 ~~

Rental only, unless you feel the need to collect all the Star Wars titles. The game's failing point is that it hasn't your common game-based "detail" to a "real" battlefield, nor does it give you the ability to play what does feel like a truly historical hero role like other titles.

The Good-Easy controls.-Impossibly small learning curve.

The Bad-Repetitiveness kills it all.-Only two worthwhile modes of play.-There are better games with identical foundations.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10 | Originally Posted: 12/16/04

Would you recommend this Review? YesNoHow can the author improve this Review?Add CommentNo CommentComments are sent anonymously - 140 character max.